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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l. W. O. GILLMAN.

BOOT 0R SHOE.

No. 320,468. Patented June 23, 1885.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shet '2.

W. O. GILLMAN.

. I BOOT 0R SHOE. No. 820,468. Patented June 23, 1885.

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N, PETERi PhuiWl-Mgrlphur, Washington. 115- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE...

\VILLIAM CONNER GILLMAN, OF MILFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

BOOT OR SHOE.-

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,468. dated June 23, 1885.

Application filed April 13, 1885. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM CONNER GILL- MAN, of Milford, in the county of Worcester, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Shoes; and I do hereby declare the same to be described in the following specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a top view or pattern of the vamp and quarters and tongue of the shoe to be described. Fig. 2 is a side view of such piece or pattern as crimped preparatory to its connection with the two ankle and the two intermediate pieces. Fig. 3 is a side View of one of the said ankle-pieces. Fig. 4c is a side View of one of the said intermediate pieces. Fig. 5 is a top view, and Fig. 6 a side view, of the shoe, as open for being drawn on or off the foot of a person.

' The nature of my invention is duly defined in the claims hereinafter presented, it relating to the class of shoes termed bellows'top shoes.

In the drawings, the vamp a, quarters b b, and the tongue 0 of the shoe are shownas formed in one single piece of material or leather, A, which has a form approximating to that of a semi-ellipse, whose base is the shorter axis of the ellipse. The piece of leather or material so formed has two slits, d d, made in it, at equal distances from its central line, 6 f, and diverging from each other as they extend from the base. The piece A thus made is to be crimped or stretched at its median line or part, so as to give to it a form in side View, as shown in Fig. 2, in which case the tongue 0 will stand at an acute angle to the upper edges of the quarters b b.

Each intermediate piece, B, shaped as shown in Fig. 4, has a small slit, 9, made upward in it at the middle of its lower end, and from such slit the piece is folded back upon itself at or on a line, h, extending from the slit to the top of the piece.

Next, each rear edge of the tongue is to be inserted between the folded part t and that on which such part laps, and the quarter at the vertex of the angle of the tongue and upper edge of the quarter is to be inserted in the slit 9, so as to cause the quarter at such vertex to be straddled for a short distance downward by the said intermediate piece. Next, each of the intermediate pieces is to be stitched to the tongue at or near its next adjacent lower k edge. All this having been done, each of the two ankle-pieces 0, formed as shown in Fig. 3, is to be applied to one of the quartersthat is to say, is to be lapped thereon at its upper part a short distance, and is also to lap on and cover that part of the next adjacent intermediate piece, B, which laps on the outer surface of the tongue. Next, the entire front portion of each ankle-piece is, at or near its edge, to be sewed to the intermediate piece at or near the front edge, 0 p q, thereof. Next, each ankle-piece and the quarter on which it is lapped are to be sewed together along the lower edge of the ankle-piece, after which the connected quarters and ankle-pieces are to be sewed and stitched-together at their rear edges.

Each intermediate piece and the ankle-piece to which it is joined constitute a fly to lap on the tongue, and to receive a lacing which is to go through eyelets or holes Z, arranged in the said pieces in manner as shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

By having each intermediate piece, B, slitted and made to straddle the quarter and lap on opposite sides of the tongue, and by having the parts of the laps that straddle the quarter stitched thereto and to the anklepiece lapped on the outer of such parts, a very strong and dust-proof connection is formed of the tongue, the intermediate piece, and the ankle-piece at the vertex of the angle of the tongue and the ankle-piece, where the shoe is subjected to the greatest strain, and is liable to be torn while being drawn on or off the foot.

By having the tongue, vamp, and quarters in one piece there is no seam between the tongue and vamp, nor any seams at the junction of the vamp and quarters, to obstruct the foot in its passage either into or out of the shoe, or to render the shoe uncomfortable to a person while wearing it. A shoe so made can have its ankle-pieces of much thinner or a different material than that of the quarters, vamp, and tongue.

Aiter the upper may have been thus made and suitably bound and lined, it is to be fixed in any proper way to the inner and outer soles and the heel.

I clain1 1. In a bellows-top shoe, the combination of the vamp, quarters, and tongue in one piece, crimped along its middle, so as to raise the tongue to its proper angle with the quarters, with ankle-pieces arranged above and stitched to the quarters, and with intermediate pieces slitted at their lower ends and there straddling the quarters, and lapped on the tongue and stitched thereto and to the ankle-pieces at their front edges, all being substantially as set forth.

2. A bellows-top shoe having the vamp, a, tongue 0, and quarters b b in one piece, ex-

, at their front edges, all being substantially as hereinbefore set forth, and represented in the accompanying drawings.

WILLIAM CON NEE GILLMAN.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, ERNEST B. PRATT. 

